Painless Wiring Bronco Specific Volt Meter Install Question

[JeepGuy]

Hello,

So I purchased the Painless Wiring Bronco Specific kit from one of the local sources that ryhmes with Mild Corses I just started the install and so far it is as about as straight forward as one could hope. I rebuilt my dash, upgraded to the True One Wire alternator from the same Mild Corses vendor... so to speak... and I got to the part of the install dealing with the Volt Meter... also new from that vendor. The kit is set up for the stock Ampmeter and the wires are pre run.

According to the instruction for the new Volt Meter, I will run a separate wire off the positive side and not use the one included in the wiring harness.

Question is what do I do with the wire that is already part of the kit? It is spliced into another wire so removing it completely is not an option.

I am not an electrical guy by any means so please respond with small words and maybe a drawing in crayon

 

[DirtDonk]

Yes, leave it completely intact.
Keep it tucked behind the cluster unless there is another convenient place to put it, but I don’t think there is.
I forget if it’s one piece or if it’s got a butt connector. But if a connector, you must keep it tightly connected. It’s still part of the entire charging circuit, but it’s no longer used to read the current flow.

Connect the appropriate terminal of the new voltmeter to a keyed power source, and the other appropriate terminal to a ground.
You can add your own of course, but there are so many additional switched power wires in the Painless harness that you can probably find a convenient one to use.
If you want to make your own short one, you can literally connect it to the input side of the instrument voltage regulator.

 

[JeepGuy]

Yes, leave it completely intact.
Keep it tucked behind the cluster unless there is another convenient place to put it, but I don’t think there is.
I forget if it’s one piece or if it’s got a butt connector. But if a connector, you must keep it tightly connected. It’s still part of the entire charging circuit, but it’s no longer used to read the current flow.

Connect the appropriate terminal of the new voltmeter to a keyed power source, and the other appropriate terminal to a ground.
You can add your own of course, but there are so many additional switched power wires in the Painless harness that you can probably find a convenient one to use.
If you want to make your own short one, you can literally connect it to the input side of the instrument voltage regulator.

Thank you,

I figured reading the other tech questions about wiring you would have an idea of what to do with it. Appreciate it.

I was thinking of running a dedicated wire to the keyed power side of the starter solenoid. Is that overkill? Or would one of the unused power wires from the new harness work Okay with the Volt meter? I wasn't sure if ran it from the fuse block that I would get a true read vs getting it right from the starter solenoid. Again, novice with electrical so sorry if the question is a little weird.

 

[DirtDonk]

Totally overkill.
A voltmeter doesn’t need to read directly from the battery at such low levels of current. It can read from anywhere in the system.
And if your brand new fuse, panel doesn’t have virtually battery voltage, there’s already something wrong with the system.

The closer to the gauge you find a source the shorter the wire is the easier it is to get working. Shouldn’t see an appreciable voltage drop even that far away from the battery with a new harness.

Anytime you wire something to the starter relay you’re adding not only extra wire, but extra complexity that might skew the readings, depending upon the ignition system you are using.
Remember if you use a ballast resistor your sample for the voltmeter is going to read low almost all the time.

And if you think about it, wiring it to the “I” post of the starter relay/solenoid is literally about as far away from the battery as you can get on the same vehicle.
The power starts at the battery, runs back into the cabin, to the ignition switch, back out through the firewall and to the starter relay.
That’s a long way to run just for a test sample voltage.

 

[DirtDonk]

Another thought along those lines.
If you connect the meter to a circuit up under the dash, should you ever expect voltage is lower than it should be you can grab your handy dandy hand held meter and check right at the battery.
If there is a discrepancy then you can get to tracking it down.

 

[JeepGuy]

@DirtDonk Couple questions.

Little confusion here on my end wiring this to the instrument voltage regulator (again very novice with electric). So I spliced this into the input wire for the instrument voltage regulator. Then I started thinking about it... lol... The input for the instrument voltage regulator is Black and Green #935 B+ (Battery Constant). I'm guessing I did that wrong, unless I'm confusing what keyed power source means... which is also totally possible.

For the purpose of auto electric, my understanding is switched power is from key either in the ACC position or run position of the ignition. And battery constant is always powered...

Am I over thinking this?

Last Question for now; Before I go splicing into other wires, couldn't I just run the voltage meter to one of the open accessory keyed power sources on the painless block and be done with it?

 

[DirtDonk]

Yes, you absolutely could.
But it sounds like you’re almost done with it already. Black with green is not constant, it is switched. Otherwise, your gauges will be on all the time and using a small amount of power, which overtime would drain the battery.
Gauges are switched even with Painless.

 

[JeepGuy]

Updated my contributor status again so here are a couple pics of what I did.

Side note: I've read through a bunch of the other electrical question threads. I plan on putting grounds directly conected to the dash to the main body on both sides in addition to the Painless installed ground. I read where you suggested adding a ground directly from the gauge cluster. Would attaching it to one of the 4 mounting studs on the cluster be best, or is there a spot on the back of the cluster itself that would be more effective?

 

[DirtDonk]

You could do it just about anywhere that's convenient. I like to use the screw that's holding the IVR to the cluster however, because I feel that it not only grounds the cluster but is a good, convenient and secure place that also happens to guarantee that the IVR has a good ground at the same time.

So just to be sure here, the Black wire is out to the gauges, and the gray wire with the yellow wire spliced to it is power in from the harness?

Paul

 

[JeepGuy]

You could do it just about anywhere that's convenient. I like to use the screw that's holding the IVR to the cluster however, because I feel that it not only grounds the cluster but is a good, convenient and secure place that also happens to guarantee that the IVR has a good ground at the same time.

So just to be sure here, the Black wire is out to the gauges, and the gray wire with the yellow wire spliced to it is power in from the harness?

Paul

Yes, that is how I interpreted it, but wasn't sure if it was the right one because of it being labeled #935 B+. Both of those wires were pre-terminated with male and female connections (could only go on one or the other posts on the IVR) pre-installed from painless. The "gray" wire is the black and green, and the "black" wire is black and white which is consistent with all the other ground wires on the dash.

 

[DirtDonk]

Ground wire should be black only.
Ford actually used some red stripes on some ground wires over the years, but I think that was a mistake on their part.
The black with white stripe is for gauge power. In other words, the output of the IVR to the input of the gauges.
The black with green is switched from the ignition switch/fuse panel and would go to the input side of the IVR.
A good place to splice in the power for your voltmeter. Which it sounds like you’ve already done.

 

[JeepGuy]

Hard to read in the picture. But it is spliced into the side that reads IGN. Only one way to mount it, so that is on the left in the above pictures. Both the IVR and Volt Meter were purchased through you guys.

Kinda weird how the colors look a little different in the photos. Based on your description it looks like I got it right. Thank you again. I'm sure there will be more questions to come.